Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1887-09-08
FOR TIE FARMER.
q N~H u ~ = : Ht40H II "
The Old and Ever Recurring Question
''Does IL Pay to Cut Foed7"-The
Potato Bug.
Value OF Straw as an Aid to Future Crops.
Ravages Of Cut Worms-Hen
Manure.
DOES IT PAY TO CUT EEED?

DOES 1T PAY TO CUT EEED?
see some discussion in the papers
writes a correspondent of the Breeders
Gazette as to whether it will pay to cut
feed for stock. That depends a great
deal upon the kind of feed and the
stock as well as upon the season of the
year. If one has really good hay made
from grass cut ut the right period of
growth and properly cured. there is
little to be gained by cutting it, as it il
SO well relished by all kinds of stock
that if fed with judgment it will
be practically all eaten. There are
some dainty feeders, of course, that
will nose over it and pick out only the
sweetest blades, and something may
be gained in their case by cutting the
hay to such lengths as will prevent them
from making any selection. But
more can be gained by getting rid
such animals than by keeping them.
Any animal TO be profitable, either for
enduring constant work or for pro-
ducing milk or hcsh, must be j good,
strong eater. And when the hay is
poor it seems better economy to let
the stock pick it over and get out the
best of it and waste the rest for bed.
ding or manure than to cut it up and
force the stock to eat it all regardless
of quality. They will get about as
much good from the part as from the
whole. There is not much gained BY
compelling an animal to fill itself up
with a lot of tibrous, indigestible mate
rial. If feed is scarce, and it is more
of 4 question us to how to get the stock
through than how to preserve or i'm.
prove its condition, then, of course,
the farmer is justified in resorting to all
sorts of expcdients. But if there is
little nutriment in the feed the stock
will not thrive on it, although they
may exist.
Corn fodder will pay most decidedly
for the work of cutting. The animals
can not get at the stalks in a satisfact-
DRY way, save at the smaller ends,
unless they are cut, and the refuse
which goes 10 the manure heap is in
convenient shape for work. But when
cOrn-fodder is cut the animals should
be free to exercise selection in the por-
tons they eat. There is a good deal
near the butts of the stalks which is
hard and vaiueless, and which no ami
NAL will eat unless reduced to COM
paratiye starvation. Many farmers
seem to think that if an animal can
only be induced to eat substance
there is an advantage gained, and so
they sprinkle their grain over these
indigestible butts in order to induce
the animals to eat them up. But feed
must be very scarce on farm j, this
pays, for such material is better out
side the animal than inside Better
scatter the grain over good nutritious
food, for it generally pays to induce
animals to eat as much of this as
possible. 1t is often of advantage in
feeding grain to grind it and mix it
with cut fodder or hay; the coarse food
in such cases being useful because
caGSing more complete mastication
and digestion of the grain. But that
is different matter from mixing the
grain with worthless fodder in order
to compel its consumption. When
grain is relatively less an object than
hay it often oftens happens that it will
pay to cut straw and mix with the
grain, and il the proportion of grain
is properly balanced the practice is a
good one, especially for store stock.
The time of year has something to do
with the matter also, for farmer can
do many things in the seasons when
work is slack, and be amply paid by
moderate advantage, which he can not
profitably do when the work on the
farm is rushing; and so it is seen there
are several things to be considered in
deciding the question as TO whether it
will pay for the farmer to cut feed.